Sunday, July 18, 2010

An update on the GN V8 piece that was started as a demonstration at the Wiscombe Hill Climb earlier this year. This piece will be on display at the Prescott Hill Climb in August (the picture doesn't really do it justice). Whilst doing this piece I have been finding more out about this wonderful machine while looking for reference pictures, here's what I found out:

The car is a GN/JAP Grand Prix, year 1908/1919 owned and built by Richard Scaldwell (please correct me if I'm wrong). www.prewarcar.com gave this great description in 2006 after seeing it at the Prescott Hill Climb:

"The low car seems equally flimsy and scruffy at first sight, but when you are getting closer you see a grand piece of art in which thousands of hours and tons of creativity have been invested. The detailing is incredible and gives an overall impression the car has escaped from Harry Potter's latest... Here some specs: modified wooden chassis in GN style. Air cooled 5 litre V8 engine ( aero JAP ?) with everything exposed. The alloy coachwork organically evolves from the radiator shell along the cowl and unfolds into two staggered seats. The driver and co-driver are squeezed into something like a miniature steam loc engine room. From there we proceed to the back of the car, a kind of rivettted 'goats' rear end which accommodates to carry two saddle bags."

The engine is an original Jap V8 rather than 4 v twins bolted together, the same engine was used by E.T. Willows to power his airship which flew from Cardiff to Crystal Palace on August 6th 1910. The engine can be seen in the Shuttleworth Collection. More info on the engine can be seen here:

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Ron Clements Receiving his Raffle Prize from the Morgan Three Wheeler Opening Run

(not bad for a £2 ticket if I do say so myself!)

Ron Clements 1933 Super Sports ALX 8.

Great to have another look at this car after painting it for so long!

Pete Clements' Matchless

Ted Frenchs' fantastic machine! made it down with his dog as a passenger and two great hunks of foam for upholstery. That's the way to do it!

Alan Goodwins Super Sports

On the 6th July I traveled down to Taunton to the Morgan Three Wheeler Club South West Meeting where I presented the lucky and always happy Ron Clements with a commission piece won at the MTWC Opening Run earlier in the year. The piece was based around a photo of Ron at Goodwood in 2008.

I had a great time with the South West group; there was a great turnout of three wheelers for the occasion, and all the members were very welcoming. I'd like to say thank you to Ian and the SW group for hosting the event.

I'm currently busy getting ready for 2 upcoming events Le Puy (next week!) this is going to be more of a holiday than a business trip, but I will be painting whilst I'm at the event and will also be carrying a few prints with me if anyone wants to treat themselves.

The second event will be the big one of the year the VSCC Prescott Hill Climb it runs over a whole weekend and the attendance is expected to be around 6000 over the weekend so I'm really looking forward to it. I will be running a stall with a painting demonstration running over the whole weekend. I'm currently working on some watercolour pieces for the event which I will be posting up over the coming weeks as a taster of what I will be stocking for the event.